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Friday, June 18, 2010

Storms & Crafts & Walkers, Oh My!

We had to hide in the basement during two different storms today.

Great picture of the garden, by the way! Those black parts dipping down are when the storms get scary!

I hate that! I'm learning to like a good thunderstorm, but when these HUGE BLACK fronts roll in and you can hear the thunder when they're still miles away and you're out in the cornfields by yourself (our house, not me personally) and can see these things coming for hours...

Looking west from our house. This storm was coming FAST! (Hello, neighbors!)

Well, it gets intimidating. We don't have a TV (hooked up) and I find anything online to be out-of-date by the time it gets there. Same with the weather radio. It alerts us in the middle of the night for random things a few counties away and doesn't alert us to scary-looking storms until they're on top of us. And when it does, it's like, "Ooooh, scary thunderstorm with high winds and rain. Chance that it might be severe. Go inside and shiver in your basement until it passes." Well, thanks. I can see that much!!

The view north. Again, great shot of the garden. Where were these pictures for my post earlier this week? I might have to edit it to add them.

My husband took the pictures as he was home for the second storm. They don't bother me nearly as much when he's here! After we came out of hiding and finished supper, we headed outside to see what everything looked like. There was some flooding of one of the roads (dirt) and the fields to the east of us! This is how much rain came down in less than 45 minutes!

Flooding in the drainage ditch. The water was flowing over the road!

Pretty crazy, huh? Can I move, please?

Anyway, I finally took the time this week to do a craft with my 3-year-old that he got from his Grandma for his birthday a few weeks ago.

My little artist.

It's a birdhouse kit! J got to paint everything by himself!

Isn't he a cutie?!!

Then we let everything dry.

The next day we put it together.

Everything is better when you use tools!

All done!

He's smiling for the camera, can't you tell?

Little brother approves!

I'm feeling so left out!!!

Meanwhile, I made a card for my Grandpa. I know there are people out there that really make cards, but what I really wanted was a simple card with a little homemade touch. So I found an old blank card (I think it's a leftover Christmas card from eons ago that my Mom gave me. Thanks Mom! No, I'm not a hoarder!!!) and gathered my dollar store supplies.

I cut a piece of textured tissue paper to size and glued it to the front of the card, then put on the letters to spell "Grandpa". I thought the glue would disappear when it dried. It didn't. I'm glad I put it on in a somewhat logical pattern, cuz I can pretend it was intentional! Polka dots!

Easy card withaccidental intentional polka dots!

You want to know a secret? I don't have the before pictures handy to prove it, but that card is on my kitchen counter. Which is covered in contact paper! *gasp* I totally wasn't planning to go into it in this post, but our house was built in the 60s and had only 1 owner before us, yet you could not imagine the layers of filth we cleaned to make it livable. The counters were pink with sparkles and the sparkles had worn off in spots and other spots were gray... Yeah. This is my just-get-me-thru-till-we-can-fix-it-right solution. And I love it!

Alrighty then, back to the topic at hand... Baby J is ALMOST walking! In fact, he took two steps a couple days ago and FOUR today, all by himself. Without holding on, of course--if he holds on he could (and does) walk around all day!

Doesn't he look so proud?!

So there you have it. I'm watching the lightning outside, hoping another storm system is NOT on the way. Have a great weekend!

Thank you for becoming a follower...I'm a follower of yours now too. We had storms again a few days ago but did not have to go to the basement. Glad to hear you are fine. I told my husband we need to make our basement a little necer ...seems like we've been spending a lot of time down there.

Oh that is some scary storm. Our first house was a mess, it had writting on the bathroom wall for their kids in marker. Wash hands, flush toliet, replace toliet paper. so you can guess what the rest of the house looked like. My mother in law was horrified when she walked in the house after the closing. But with a lot of work we made it beautiful and a home.

Wow! Amazing storm pics!I'll admit, I LOVE storms! And miss them terribly. I'm originally from Wisconsin and spent many nights growing up huddled in the basement.Love your blog! And thanks for visiting my newly remodeled kitchen!

Inspiration

I love to see changes in ugly things--whether it's new grass after the brown of winter, a free beat-up dresser that becomes a beauty after a few coats of paint, or a life once in shambles that's worth living again. One of my favorite quotes in the Bible is Isaiah 61:3, specifically how God will "give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Now that's a life with meaning!